


Weakness

by Allford123



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-05-07
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-23 21:07:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1579580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allford123/pseuds/Allford123
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ward has been trained by Garrett to eliminate his weaknesses. Ward has to make decisions when his weaknesses are the team and specifically Skye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Make a Choice

“Would you stop pacing, it’s distracting” Raina irritably looked at Ward. Ward sent her daggers but stopped and leaned against the lab desk. Raina stopped what she was doing and looked at him. “You really care about them don’t you?” Ward sighed clearly annoyed.  
“You know I am really getting tired of people asking me that, they didn’t compromise me, I kept my emotions in check.”  
Raina raised her eyebrow, “Oh really, then why didn’t Garrett take you with him to take care of the team?”  
Ward was losing his patience, “Because he needed me here to make sure that the bus stays secure, and his orders are not for you to question or analyze.”  
Raina said nothing back but clearly didn’t believe him. Ward didn’t even believe what he said, but he refused to accept that he cared as much as he did, he would not let it make him weak.  
He was tired of sitting in the lab with Raina, it made him uncomfortable to sit there long without something to distract him. He left to go to the main cabin. He needed something to busy himself with so his mind would stop wandering back to the team. 

 

“What a success, I’m really sorry you couldn’t come with us boy, but man that was cool.” Ward was slightly confused by Garrett’s enthusiasm and noticed that he didn’t have any of the team.  
“Where’s Coulson and the team?”  
Garrett slapped Ward on the back.  
“It’s over son, we got rid of them, you don’t have to worry about them anymore.” Ward still didn’t get it and stared blankly at Garrett.  
“Son, they’re dead. It was so much easier than we thought it was going to be to. I thought that we were going to have to take them out one by one, and I was really looking forward to sticking one in Coulson, but man they were just in all one place, so I thought ‘What the hell’ let’s just blow them up. It was a pretty cool explosion too.” Garrett kept talking but Ward wasn’t listening.  
He couldn’t breathe. Dead. They were all dead. He suddenly imagined Fitz and Simmons, their bodies blown to pieces, Coulson and May, disembodied never to see the world again. They were weaknesses, and now they are eliminated, you should be happy. Ward played that lie over and over in his head but he couldn’t bring himself to believe it. Ward woke out of his trance when he heard Garrett say Skye’s name.  
“I am sorry sir what about Skye?”  
Garrett smirked.  
“Oh hey Romeo, don’t worry I saved your Juliet. We made sure we got her out before the blast. She is much more use to us alive then dead.”  
Ward felt his spirits rise just a little knowing that she was alive, but he knew she was in serious danger. “Where is she now?”  
“In interrogation, I told my men to rough her up a bit, just so she gets the idea of who’s in charge before we start with her.”  
Ward swallowed hard he thought he might be sick, but Garrett continued.

“Son, I know you have a soft spot for her and she knows it too, and she is going to use that to get to you. I can’t let that happen, so I need you to go in there and handle the situation appropriately.” 

Garrett handed Ward a bag of sharp tools, “she needs to know where your loyalties lie.” Garrett looked at Ward, this was a test to see how much Skye had really compromised him.  
Ward took the bag of tools and headed towards Skye.

 

 

He walked towards the interrogation room. The bag of tools felt heavy in his hands, and made him walk slower. He walked into the room to see two men standing over a beaten Skye tied to a chair.  
In that moment Ward realized that he couldn’t do what Garrett wanted him to do. Skye was not a dog that he could shoot in the woods, she wasn’t someone that he could control his emotions with. She was his ultimate weakness and he knew it, but he couldn’t hurt her.  
Ward barked at the men to get out. It was just him and Skye.  
She looked up at him, a bruise was forming on her cheeks and she had a large gash on her head, but her eyes were alert, and angry. She noticed the bag of tools in Ward’s hands.  
Nothing was said for a while. Skye was the first one to speak.  
“How dare you.” 

Ward looked at her confused, “Excuse me?”  
Skye struggled against her binds, “HOW DARE YOU WARD! HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE TO ME! YOU KILLED THEM! YOU SICK BASTARD! YOU KILLED THEM!” Tears were streaming down her face.  
Ward shot back, “Hey! I was not a part of that, I would never, I wouldn’t have,” he couldn’t the words to explain his situation to her. “You don’t understand.” He tried.  
Skye scoffed, tears still falling down her face her voice dripping with sarcasm, “That’s right I forgot, I don’t understand your special situation that excuses all the people you’ve killed.”  
Ward was falling apart, he tried to fight his emotions, do what Garrett asked him to do, but looking at Skye he was unraveled.  
“Damn it Skye! I didn’t know Garrett was going to kill them! I thought he would take them in for questioning or at least arrest them, he never once mentioned to me that his plan was to kill them. And if I would’ve known,” Ward was pacing now, tears threatening to fall down his face. He was angry at Garrett for killing the team, for Skye throwing it in his face, but mainly at himself. 

“I should’ve known, I would’ve warned the team, I should’ve known, I should have done something.” He was crying now. He figured Garrett was watching this whole thing unfold on camera but Ward just didn’t care.

Ward turned to Skye her eyes had softened but tears still fell down her face. He reached out to touch her face but she pulled away.  
Suddenly the door was thrust open and Garrett walked in. Ward quickly wiped his tears, embarrassed now of his moment of weakness.  
“Well wasn’t that a tender moment.” Garrett was standing behind Skye a hand on her shoulder. He bent down so he was next to her face.  
“You know darling, this poor man really does love you. But you see for people like Ward love is a weakness, and weaknesses need to be taken care of. Isn’t that right Ward?” 

Garrett looked up at Ward, who tightened his jaw, his body had gone rigid.  
“You see darling I think that now you have become more trouble than you are worth,” Garrett pulled out his gun and put it to Skye’s head. Ward instinctively pulled out his gun but became hesitant when he realized who he was aiming at.  
Garrett faced Ward, “You have a choice to make here son. Either you let me shoot this girl or you have to shoot me.” Ward froze, his heart was beating through his chest. 

Garrett clearly upset over Ward’s hesitation yelled, “Are you going to save this girl, this girl who makes you weak, who will never forgive you let alone love you for what you have done or shoot the man who pulled you out a living hell and gave you a new life.”  
Ward gripped his gun, it was still pointed at Garrett. “SON, make a decision because I am going to kill this girl in 15 seconds.”  
Suddenly Skye spoke up her voice surprisingly confident, “Prove me wrong Ward, prove to me that the Ward I knew is still there somewhere…”  
Garrett pushed the gun harder into her head, “Times up, she’s dead Ward.”  
And then a shot rang out.

 

To Be Continued.


	2. It Means Everything

Ward gripped his gun, it was still pointed at Garrett. “SON, make a decision because I am going to kill this girl in 15 seconds.”  
Suddenly Skye spoke up her voice surprisingly confident, “Prove me wrong Ward, prove to me that the Ward I knew is still there somewhere…”   
Garrett pushed the gun harder into her head, “Times up, she’s dead Ward.”  
And then a shot rang out. 

 

The world must have stopped spinning because Ward felt like what happened next lasted for hours. Garrett had pulled the gun away from Skye’s head. He was now trying to put pressure on his chest from the bullet that went through him, a bullet Ward sent through him. Life was slowly draining out of his eyes and he started to lose his balance, “You bastard”.

Ward was there in seconds and caught Garrett before he hit the ground. He needed to apologize to tell Garrett that he was sorry, but the words were stuck in his throat and he didn’t really mean them.

Garrett looked at Ward before he took his last breath, “You are weak Ward, you always have been and always will be,” and then he shut his eyes for the last time. 

Ward should have been sobbing, he had just killed his mentor, a man he saw as a father, but then he remembered why he shot him and it made him angry. He looked up at Skye, her eyes wide but all of her tears were gone. Ward stood up wiping Garrett’s blood on his pants. 

“We need to go. Garrett’s men probably heard the shot and they are going to be in here soon.” Ward pulled one of the little knives out of the bag and began to untie Skye.

“Ward,” Skye started but he cut her off.

“Don’t.” He snapped, he didn’t need to hear what she had to say right now. Right now he needed to get her off this plane and fast. 

He pulled another knife from the bag and handed it to Skye, “Here you might need this.” She took it clumsily and grumbled, “You know you never got to teach me how to use these.”   
Ward picked up the gun he shot Garrett with, even though it had less bullets in it he thought it felt heavier. 

He turned back to Skye ignoring her comment, “I am going to check the plane’s logs to see where we are passing over. We should be passing over some farmland so it should be safe to parachute out of here. Stay close to me once we leave this room.”

Skye’s eyes suddenly angry, “And why the hell should I trust you, you sick bastard. You are probably going to throw me off this plane without a parachute. Just because you shot Garrett doesn’t mean…”

Ward lost it, “IT MEANS EVERYTHING! Damn it! I told you that I would never hurt you, I would not let anything happen to you! I shot him Skye! The man who treated me like a son, he was more of a father to me than my real dad! So don’t say it doesn’t mean anything.” Ward had moved across the room and had Skye pinned against the wall. Both of their breathing was heavy and their bodies tense and angry. Ward spoke again still bitter, “We need to go now and you’re coming with me because I’ll be damned if anything happens to you now.” Skye didn’t say another word but followed him out the door knife in hand. 

 

Ward and Skye made it to the lab unseen and grabbed some parachutes. Ward checked something on the computer while Skye was putting her parachute on. Ward still facing the computer said, “We need to jump in exactly 2 minutes if we want to land safely.” He set a timer on his watch and turned back to face Skye. 

Her face was still bruised and the gash on her head seemed to stop bleeding but Ward noticed how small she looked just then. She had definitely gained muscle since their training started and he knew she ate everything in sight yet she looked smaller to him. 

Skye noticed he was staring at her and shot at him a little too sharply, “What?”

Pulled out of his thoughts Ward mumbled, “Nothing, but I think we should grab a first aid kit or something to deal with that gash on your head when we land.” Skye felt her head and winced at the pain, Ward instinctively went to reach out for her but she pulled away and walked to the other side of the lab.

“Right, first aid kit.” 

Ward nodded and started looking but time was running out, they needed to jump soon. 

“Found it!” Skye pulled down a black box and turned to Ward, “It should have everything we need, Simmons always has everything packed.” Skye’s voice trailed off, mentioning Simmons’ name was a painful reminder that they were the only ones left and that their team was dead. Ward thought she was crying when she looked up at him, “We should probably jump now right?” He nodded and opened the hangar door. They both grabbed the handles on the door preparing to jump. 

Ward looked over at Skye, he knew she didn’t have a lot of experience jumping out of planes. He thought about reaching out his hand again but he knew she would just refuse. “Ready?” He asked. She didn’t look at him but nodded, “Let’s get this over with.”

A sudden troubling thought ran through Ward’s head just before they jumped. Why hasn’t any of Garrett’s men come after us? I shot Garrett and none of them come after me? But it was too late to worry about that so they jumped.

To Be Continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I know all of us just want Ward to do something that will redeem him, so Skye will forgive him and they can move on. I just want to make a point that it will take a lot of time for Skye to stop being angry at Ward no matter what he does to prove her otherwise. Skye cared a lot for Ward so therefore he had the most effect on her when he betrayed them. All that love that she had for him is now turned into anger. So I kind of like to think of it as the angrier she is at him, the more we know Ward meant to her.  
> I am trying to stay as true to real characters on TV as I can. I don’t want them to do anything that I don’t think that would’ve done on the show.  
> Please Review and Enjoy!


	3. The Whole Story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys just kind of go with this chapter. I didn’t really want to spend a lot of time discussing Ward’s past but I found it hard to get around it if there can be any sort of reconciliation with him and Skye. I tried my best when coming up with reasons and explanations through Ward’s past. I tried to incorporate as much as I could from the TV, information that we already know about Ward’s past (which isn’t a lot). I am writing the next chapter now which I think will be much better but Skye and Ward kind of just needed to get their shit out there in the open so good stuff can come in the future. I hope this satisfies people though.  
> Please Review though I really enjoy getting feedback!!!

They landed in an open corn field, no sign of civilization anywhere. Ward and Skye were untangling themselves from their parachutes.

“We landed in the southern part of Nebraska, close to the Kansas state line. I think if we head in that direction we should run into a road and we can follow it hopefully to a town.” Ward made sure the knife he had with him was tucked safely in his boot and removed the parachute so he had an empty backpack to put supplies in. “We don’t have really anything with us, no food or water so we should probably get moving.”

Skye remained unmoved, she had her backpack slung across her shoulder but she was turned away from Ward.

Ward was frustrated at her resistance, “Skye! Come on!”

Skye turned to face him, her expression was sad but she had no tears, not anymore. “I am not going anywhere with you Ward. I thought I made my feelings toward you pretty clear last time you had me chained to the bus stairs. You are a murderer, and a manipulative liar and I have no reason to follow you anywhere. Shield is gone, the team is dead, you killed my family and you are nothing to me anymore so I’m going to go, but not with you.”

Ward stared at her blankly, he was too drained to be angry anymore. “Is that it then? I shoot Garrett to save your life and jump out of the plane, with you, and now you’re just going to leave. You want us to walk out of each other’s life forever. Skye I can’t do that.”

“Well it’s not up to you!” Skye shot back, she started to turn and leave but Ward went after her this time grabbing her arm but not letting her go.

“Let go of me!” she yelled.

“No,” his voice wasn’t angry but strong and determined because he was going to give her the whole story. “No, Skye listen to me. I won’t let you walk out of my life until you know the whole story.”

She stopped struggling against him and looked up at his towering face. “If I listen to your ‘poor pity me Ward story’ will you let me leave, alone.” 

Skye’s sarcasm hurt but he nodded, “If you still want to, yeah I will.” Skye pulled her arm out of Ward’s grip but suddenly remembered her injuries and put her hand to her head.

“Here let’s take care of that first, I don’t want it to get infected.” 

Skye scowled, “No story first, I want to leave.” 

Ward sighed “I can multitask alright?” He found the first aid and searched through for some antibiotic and bandages. 

Skye sat impatiently, every time his fingers brushed her face to tend to the wound she flinched. Ward knew it wasn’t because of the pain, it was his touch that made her sick. 

“I am waiting to hear this story Ward.” Ward nodded, he didn’t really know where to begin. He knew he couldn’t give Skye some tragic story of his life because she had a terrible life too he just needed to tell the truth for once in his life and maybe just maybe it would be enough. 

“I am going to tell you the whole story Skye, from the beginning.” He looked at her his eyes pleading, trying to tell her that he wasn’t going to bullshit her, he was going to tell her the good the bad and the ugly.

“My dad got my mom pregnant with my oldest brother John when she was 16. He was 22 and already an alcoholic. But she from a strict Christian home so my dad was essentially threatened into marrying her. It wasn’t that bad though, I think he really did love her in his own way. Anyway she had me four years later. That time of my life was pretty decent I guess I don’t really remember much of it. My dad spent a lot of time with John, he took him everywhere with him. I was around my mom more as a young kid. John was 9 and I was 5 when Kyle was born.”

“Ouch, damn it Ward” Skye reached for the gash on her head. Ward grabbed her wrist, “Don’t touch it, it could get infected you have to let me clean it.” She yanked her wrist from his grip but let him continue. 

“Anyway, Kyle was born and things went pretty downhill from there. Right around that time my dad lost his factory job. I actually don’t think he ever got a decent job since then, but he would walk around ask people if they needed help with their lawns etc. and then spend the night at some bar. You see my mom also had some complications with Kyle’s birth so we had medical bills that we just couldn’t pay. One thing led to another and bills weren’t getting paid and we were swimming in debt. Dad would come home drunk some nights and blame Kyle for ruining the family. I usually just locked myself in my room, but I could hear him yelling in the living room. Dad stopped spending time with John too, but John still idolized him. So it didn’t take long for John to start blaming Kyle for his sucky life too.” 

Ward stopped, Skye’s face was cleaned up and bandaged, he touched the bruise on her cheek, this time she winched from the pain.

“I’m sorry,” he looked down at his hands and started to put the kit away. Skye remained silent, but he figured it was better than her coming at him with an angry retort.

“I’m still going to tell you the story but I think we should start walking, I know I know you want to walk away and leave me but you can leave me once we find a town that you can actually get a taxi from, okay?” Ward wasn’t sure if she would actually go along with it, but she nodded curtly.

“Fine, you can walk and talk but the first sign of a vehicle I’m putting my thumb up and leaving you.” 

Ward didn’t doubt it but scoffed, “Oh, yeah that’s safe just hop in a car with a stranger.”

Skye shot him a look that would kill, and he realized he really wasn’t the one who could say who she would be safe with.

Ward grabbed his bag, “Anyway shall we.” 

The next couple hours Ward filled the silence with the story of his childhood. He talked about how as they got older his dad became almost non-existent and his mom became the sole supporter and worked all hours. John turned into a bully, whose main target was Kyle and Ward well was left in the middle feeling useless and powerless. He retold how his brother made him beat up his little brother and he told the story of his brother at the well. 

“I was twelve years old when Kyle died. He died because he was in the well for too long and inhaled some toxins. My father barely shed a tear and mother I think just shut down after that. My brother told my parents that I was the one who killed him and that I had left him in that well to die, that I had known there were toxins down there. Which wasn’t true but it was my fault he died.” Ward said it like it was a fact, a fact that ruined his life and the reason why he had so much self-loathing.

“It was my fault.” Ward repeated, bitterness and anger in his tone. 

“Ward,” Skye interrupted, “why didn’t you tell your parents that your brother bullied you and forced you to put your brother in that well.”

“Because!” Ward said more forcefully then he meant to, “because believe it or not John was in a way the golden child and I was the weird weak child, but really I guess I thought I deserved whatever punishment I got, I killed my brother and I didn’t think I was really worth saving.”

Skye’s voice became surprisingly soft. “You didn’t kill your brother Ward, you didn’t know that the well had toxins in it.” 

Ward just shrugged though like he didn’t really agree with her. “Anyway after that my parents would never look at me in the face, my brother found other people at school to bully but at home he would just force me to do his chores get him drinks whatever he wanted really. Looking back now I don’t know why I was so afraid of him but I did whatever he asked. One thing lead to another I started getting into trouble at school. I became the school bully and I was really terrible to this one kid Jim. I mean I really targeted him every day. I took his lunch money, pushed him against the lockers and said the most horrible things to him, really awful stuff Skye. And then I think he had enough because our sophomore year of high school he switched schools out of the blue. I never saw him again but I think I really ruined his life.” 

Ward stopped and laughed. “You know here I am trying to get you to understand where I came from and all I am doing is just convincing you of what a monster I became.” 

Skye kind of laughed in return. “Yeah you are Ward.”

They both just stood there a moment, looking straight at each. Neither one of them saying a word. 

Ward broke the silence, “Anyway I turned to a lot of vandalism and ended up being sent to military school where I just caused more problems. Long story short I was a kid ruining every chance because I was angry. Angry at the sucky life I had been given and angry at myself for being weak. And then Garrett came into my life, he told me that he could show me how to get rid of weaknesses. He would show me how no one like my brother would ever mess with me again. And I took him up on his offer and he trained me. He trained me to eliminate everything that means anything to you because that’s what makes you weak.” 

Silence again.

“That’s it? That’s your sad story that excuses all the people you’ve killed. The story that’s supposed to convince me that you’re not a bad person!” 

“No! It doesn’t excuse them at all, but it explains why I did what I did. Why Garrett meant so much to me.”

Skye was pacing furiously now, “You know I had a pretty shitty upbringing too Ward, being in the foster care system really doesn’t give you a whole lot to work with. I never even had a family, so you can say I was pretty weak and vulnerable too but I didn’t turn out to be a psycho killer.”

Ward took large strides so he was standing close to her. “I know, but you’re telling me that at your moment of weakness if had someone come to you and told you that you don’t have to be weak anymore and I can be your family and then started calling you “son” you wouldn’t have taken them up on that offer?” 

Skye became still as Wards words went through her. He struck a nerve and Skye knew that in her moment of weakness she would have ran to anybody who would have called her daughter. How could she blame him for wanting the same thing she always wanted? But she would not let go of her anger towards him.

“Yeah, well I eventually got my family Ward and then they died.”

Ward looked at her dead in the eyes, “I know mine died too.”

To Be Continued.


	4. Don't Blow Our Cover

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all of you who have reviewed and followed!! I hope by the end of this chapter you kind of get the idea of where this is heading. I’m sorry if you guys are getting annoyed with Skye’s outbursts but can you blame the girl? She’s going through a lot all at the same time and it’s a lot to handle. Anyway I hope you like this chapter!  
> Review and Enjoy:)

They walked the next couple of hours in complete silence. They had found a highway and were following it to a small town about 60 miles away. They suddenly hear a truck coming up the highway. Ward turned around to see what Skye would do, he wasn’t confident that she wouldn’t leave him even after his explanation. 

Skye stared at him for a couple seconds, her expression blank before she turned around and started walking towards the truck her thumb in the air.   
Ward felt his heart drop. He didn’t know what else he could’ve done to keep her, his greatest weakness, his only light. Garrett had warned him that she would never love him, he had gone too far in the wrong direction. He felt a pang of guilt thinking of Garrett but seeing Skye alive made it go away.  
He watched her as the truck slowed down and rolled down the window. They said something he couldn’t hear and she opened the door to get in.

“Are you coming?” Skye was facing him, looking right at him, Ward didn’t believe that she was talking to him. 

“Come on, this nice man doesn’t have all day.” A very confused Ward followed Skye and peered into the truck. The man was wearing a farmer’s shirt and looked to be about Ward’s age. 

Ward knew why the man had stopped for Skye but he didn’t think that he would be too pleased to see Ward hop in the truck as well. 

Ward cleared his throat, “Mind if I come along?” 

The man grunted clearly not thrilled at the thought of another man sharing the car with Skye, “Yeah no problem.” 

Skye hopped into the car and got into the middle seat, “Well thanks again we really appreciate it,” and Ward followed suit and shut the door. 

The man started driving and turned to Skye, “So what are you doing walking on the side of the road so late?”

Skye didn’t even hesitate. 

“Well, we wanted to go on a sort of cross country drive across the country and our car broke down so we were walking into town to get help.” Ward was surprised at how quickly she was able to come up with a cover story.

The man noticed Skye’s bandage and bruise on her cheek. “Those look pretty nasty what happened?”

This time Ward answered. “We decided to take a break during our trip and go on a little hike and she fell. But we had the first aid kit so it worked out.” The man looked at Ward, wondering if the story was true or Ward was actually some sort of abusive boyfriend. But Ward kept eye contact with the man and he eventually looked away. 

The man shifted uncomfortably, “So are you guys, like uh together?” Before Ward could open his mouth and deny it, Skye grabbed his knee.

“Yup! We’ve been together how long?” Skye looked at him, but he just stared blankly back at her. “Well it’s been about one amazing year.” She answered for him.

Ward couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He agreed that they should probably have covers since they were still wanted fugitives but he was surprised that Skye choose their cover to be boyfriend and girlfriend, not that he minded. 

The conversation pretty much died after that, the man’s spirits had kind of deflated after he figured out Skye wasn’t single. 

They arrived at the town about forty five minutes later and the man dropped them off at a diner that had a phone they could use. 

“Ward,” Skye turned to him before they entered the diner, “I’m going to call for a cab and go my own way. I let you come with me in the truck because I didn’t think you should’ve had to walk the rest of the way and I only said what I said back there so I could keep the man at a distance.” Ward nodded, he figured it was too good to be true. They walked into the diner together and he grabbed a booth while Skye went to go look for a phone. 

She came back about five minutes later, clearly disappointed. “Well there isn’t a taxi service that will drive out here this late at night, but it doesn’t even matter because I just realized something Ward. We don’t have any money.” Skye slouched into the booth across from him.

“Don’t worry I’ve been in far worse situations with no money on missions we will be fine. Especially with your hacker abilities this is no problem.”

Skye sighed and reached for a menu, “Ugh I’m starving and you don’t get it Ward. This isn’t another mission we are completely on our own. There is no backup and I don’t have a computer, so I can’t do any good.” 

Just then the sheriff walked into the diner and headed directly over to Skye and Ward. 

“Well I just heard that you two are in kind of mess right now, hey Jenny get this nice couple whatever they want it’s on me!” A lady from behind the counter just gave him a thumbs up and started her way over to them.

Ward spoke up, “That’s very nice sir but…”

“But,” Skye interrupted, “we are starved and my boyfriend here left his wallet in the car so we don’t have any money. We really appreciate it thank you!”

Ward glared at her but the waitress Jenny came up to take their orders before he could say anything else.

The sheriff turned to them again after Jenny had walked away, “So what’s y’alls name? Kevin, the man who drove y’all in, told me that you guys are doing some cross country road trip?”

Ward spoke up first this time, he wasn’t about to let Skye give him some terrible name. “I’m Eric Douglass and this is my girlfriend Kelly and yeah that’s right.” Ward stole a glance at Skye as he shook the sheriff’s hand, her eyes angry. Ward had to keep himself from laughing he didn’t think that she would be a fan of the name Kelly but he didn’t she would dislike it that much. 

The sheriff eagerly shook Ward’s hand, “Well welcome to Ridderdale. I’m sorry we can’t help you tonight, but I can have one of my boys help you with whatever you need tomorrow to get back on the road.” 

The waitress Jenny came up behind them with their food, “And there is an extra room with a shower above the diner you are welcome to stay there tonight as well.” 

“Wow,” Skye said. “Thank you so much that is so generous of you!”

“Don’t worry about it sweetheart.” Jenny winked at Skye and Ward and walked off. 

The sheriff nodded to both of them, “Well I will let you enjoy your meal and continue your night. I’m sure you’re tired.”

“Thanks again.” Ward stood up and shook his hand again. 

They finished their meal in silence and then Jenny led them to the upstairs room and gave them a key.

Once they were alone Skye turned to him. 

“Kelly? Really?” Ward set his backpack down next to bed.

“What’s wrong with the name Kelly?”

Skye scoffed, “Well nothing. But do I look like a Kelly to you?”

Ward sat on the bed feeling suddenly very exhausted. “It’s just a cover name, it’s not supposed to fit you. And I don’t think it’s the name that really upset over.”

Skye sat on the desk chair across the room feeling fatigued as well. “I can’t stay with you anymore Ward we need to go our separate ways.”

“Why?” Ward sat up. “You know that there are still people out there looking for us, the government not to mention Hydra. I’m sure they are looking for us right now. If we stick together we have a better chance.” Ward didn’t really think that he needed Skye to be able to stay undetected but the part of him that felt the need to protect her just wouldn’t go away. “We both need to move on Skye. I know you can’t forgive me, not yet anyways but that doesn’t mean we can’t stick together and get out of this mess.” 

“I can’t stop being angry at you Ward!” Skye suddenly was standing and pacing the room. “Because if I stop being angry at you then I betray them. I would be turning my back on my team who always had my back just to turn to the man who ruined our family. I can’t, I just can’t do that.” 

Ward got up and moved across the room closer to her.

“I know Skye, but we’re alive and their dead.”

Skye crossed the distance between them and slapped him across the face. Tears falling down her face.

“Don’t!” she yelled. She was thrashing out at him now.

“Skye stop, stop!” She stopped tears in her eyes and she fell to the ground and wept. She wept for her team who died, she wept for Ward’s betrayal that hurt her more deeply then she would have ever guessed, she wept for their situation, and she wept because for the first time since the team she felt truly alone. 

Ward bent down and pulled her into his arms and cried with her. She didn’t pull away but leaned into him and he leaned into her. They held each other for what seemed like hours. 

Maybe together they could fix each other’s brokenness. 

 

 

They took turns taking a shower. Ward made a spot on the floor so Skye could have the bed. She came out of the bathroom wringing her hair with a towel.  
Skye was looking at the floor, drawing designs on the carpet with her toe and mumbled.“Your right I think we could probably get through this better together.” 

Ward sat on his heels on his makeshift bed and looked up at her and nodded. He was afraid if he said anything it would make her change her mind. 

Skye shifted uncomfortably. “Right well we should probably try and figure out what do tomorrow. Since there is no car, we have no money, and Eric and Kelly aren’t real people.”

Ward nodded, “Yeah I’ve been thinking about that we could say that we’ve changed our minds and that we want to explore the town a little more, we could spend a couple nights here to buy us some time.”

Skye shrugged and nodded in agreement. “It’s not the best idea you’ve ever come up with Ward but we are kind of short of options so I guess it will do. But that means you have to play my boyfriend for a couple more days. Can you do that Ward? Do you know how to be someone’s boyfriend?”

Ward rolled his eyes and shut off the lights as the both hopped in their separate beds. 

“Don’t worry,” he said, “I won’t blow our cover.”

To Be Continued.


End file.
